Considering this was a joint BBC & Fox production with the intent of reintroducing the show and gaining new fans from both a largely uninitiated American audience, as well as from a generation of younger Brits who might have some cultural knowledge of the show, but were too young to watch the series when it was being released. It was not only meant to be a movie, but a pilot for a new TV show to be launched. Viewed in that context I'm sad to say I believe this story is a disaster. I do hate to say it because I adore Paul McGann's 8th Doctor, but this was an unquestionable failure. Thankfully Big Finish were later able to give 8 the attention and stories McGann deserved.

This movie begins with an establishing shot of a big red planet with text telling us this planet is called Skaro (we never spend any time on Skaro, nor does the name/look of the planet have any relevance to anything in this story really) and voiceover from McGann that says

"It was on the planet Skaro that my old enemy the Master was finally put on trial."

Now imagine you're a 14 year American with basically no context for Doctor Who. That opening sentence is completely meaningless without context, and honestly I'm not sure this story ever provides adequate context for any of the lore heavy opening narration. This may not be much of a problem for us Whovians. But if the goal is to attract enough new or casual fans, then this movie immediately drops the ball.

We’re then told that the Master has been executed for his evil deeds and is last request was for the Doctor to take his remains back to their home planet Gallifrey. This isn’t particularly compelling but it least sets up that both the Master & the Doctor are aliens, and tells us our starting point. Then we’re told that these aliens have 13 lives and the Master has used all of his up, but that “I, the Doctor” still can’t trust him even in death. After we hear the Doctor (in McGann’s voice) say “I, the Doctor”, we see and hear Sylvester McCoy. Someone who looks and sounds nothing like Paul McGann. This is just a baffling decision from the filmmakers here.

I’ll speed through the rest of the opening act. The Master escapes as a slimy, transparent snake creature (which is never really explained), causing the TARDIS to malfunction and have to make an emergency landing on Earth, more specifically December 30th 1999 in San Francisco. Here a gang fight seems to break out as the Doctor steps out of his TARDIS, and is then shot dead. So we hear the Doctor played by one actor, see him played by a different actor, but this actor is then immediately gotten rid of. It’s needlessly messy and depending on how much a casual audience member (the audience this story should’ve been most heavily catered towards) potentially confusing.

There’s then a bunch of stuff happening involving the hospital and its staff including the goopy serpent Master possessing Bruce, the ambulance driver who took the Doctor to the hospital. Also the Doctor dies thanks to a mistake at the hospital (due to his 2 hearts which is a detail I like, but again not sure how new viewer friendly it is) until finally, at the 20 minute mark 7 regenerates into 8, who then wanders around a (bizarrely abandoned)  hospital wing confused for like 5 minutes. We don’t really get the 8th Doctor or the Bruce Master as actual characters in this 85 minute story until the 25 minute mark. So far it’s just been lore-heavy table setting. So we’re told immediately who the good guy and bad guy are, then more than 20 minutes later we get to actually meet them. If any new viewers are able to understand what’s happening (I’d totally understand if some people didn’t), I don’t think they’ve been given much reason to care (at least from a character perspective, although I honestly think from a story perspective as well).

I can understand the argument that people might like it when a story doesn’t treat its audience like children. But this is Doctor Who; it should be made with an audience of children in mind. But even if you subscribe to this notion here, what’s the point in all the lore about Daleks & Skaro etc… it literally has zero relevance to the rest of the story. It pointless lore for the sake of including some pointless lore, and the lore they’ve added doesn’t really make any sense. Why are the Daleks putting the Master on trial, in fact why are the Daleks conducting any trials at all? Daleks don’t need a trial to justify killing their enemies, they just ‘exterminate’.

The crazy thing is not just how much of a mess this story is for new viewers, or how much of a failure this is at establishing a new version of Doctor Who. This movie also managed to alienate some older fans at the time as well. It could be superficial changes (like the opening theme) or big lore altering changes (the Doctor’s now half-human for some reason), but there was definitely a contingent of the existing DW Fandom that felt this wasn’t their Doctor Who. Even Grace as a romantic interest and the 8th Doctor as a more traditionally romantic lead character were scorned by some older fans. This honestly seems kind of hilarious after 20 years of modern Doctor Who where this is much more normalised, but it was somewhat controversial at the time.

So basically this story managed to both scare off new fans, and piss off old ones as well. Like I said at the start, as a soft reboot this was pretty much a disaster at the time.

The plot such as it is, revolves around the Master needing a Time Lords body in order to survive. So he opens the Eye of Harmony in the TARDIS which should allow him to take over the Doctors body, not only ensuring his own survival but the Doctor’s death as well. Unfortunately this will also weaken the fabric of reality and destroy the Earth. So the Doctor has to stop the Master and save the world.

It’s a decent enough plot and it allows the movie to show off some effects that although look dated now, were bigger (from a CGI perspective at least) than anything the classic series was ever really able to do. In fact this movie looks kinda great. There’s some wonderful lighting and cinematography, that looks more dramatic and expensive than the classic series was often able to pull off. I also love the TARDIS interior. In fact this might be the biggest the TARDIS has ever felt. It’s cool that the TARDIS is bigger on the inside, but that usually just feels like there’s 1 control room within this small, blue box (I know canonically there are other rooms, and the show occasionally explores them, but most of the time this is how it feels). In this movie the interior of the TARDIS doesn’t just feel like 1 control room, but like there’s an entire Cathedral within. It looks great and feels huge.

I don’t know if I can call Eric Roberts’ performance as the Master good, but there is certainly some camp fun to be had with it. He’s having a good time chewing the scenery. This does cause some problems though, because the plot requires Chang Lee to believe the Master and trust him, which requires some suspension of disbelief when Roberts is giving such a cartoonishly villainous performance. Honestly this whole aspect of the story really does Chang Lee as disservice, considering how much persuading it takes at the end to convince him that the obviously villainous character, doing the obviously villain things is actually the villain. That might be more of an issue with the writing and not the performance, but nevertheless it still makes Chang Lee look pretty stupid.

But obviously the star of the show and the biggest redeeming quality of this production is Paul McGann as the 8th Doctor. It’s an entirely charming performance that effortlessly flits between a graceful calm, to a boyish sense of curiosity and enthusiasm. Who doesn’t feel this Doctor’s delight at those shoes fitting? I may not be sold on a new series based on this interpretation of the show, but I’m very interested in a new series based on this interpretation of the character.

Looking back now when we know that this movie didn’t kill the series (although it probably did set it back) we can now look back on it 30 years later with more forgiveness. There is some fun to be had here. It’s an odd little curio and the only really good look we get at Paul McGann as the Doctor. Luckily he was able to show us more of what he was capable of in audio form, so thank you again Big Finish.